Celtics' TV ratings are way up this season

The Celtics’ 10-game win streak is impressive, but they’ve done something even more laudable this season. They’ve made people care about basketball in November.

NBC Sports Boston is experiencing a massive Celtics ratings spike through the team’s first month of play. Household viewership is up 139 percent overall and viewership among men has increased 193 percent, per the Boston Globe.

The Celtics’ ratings surge comes during a time in which the Patriots and Red Sox are seeing their TV numbers fall. Patriots local ratings are down this season, along with 24 other NFL teams, and NESN primetime ratings fell 15 percent in 2017. (It’s worth noting, however, that the Patriots and Red Sox –– and especially the Patriots –– still vastly outdraw the Celtics.)

Those figures dovetail with the overall trend of declining TV viewership. Ratings are down for everything, with the exception of cable news. Until recently, professional sports leagues were insulated from this trend. But now they’re feeling the affects of cord-cutting and changing consumer patterns. It’s the biggest challenge that faces all sports leagues going forward, considering their reliance on lucrative TV contracts as revenue sources.

But the Celtics are showing that people still show up to watch an entertaining product. Their ratings success is an early-season cause for celebration.

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